Melbourne Autumn Racing Carnival

The 2017 Melbourne Autumn Racing Carnival takes place from late January - March each year and is headlined by Group 1 races including the Blue Diamond Stakes, Australian Guineas and the Newmarket Handicap.

Melbourne Autumn Racing Carnival News

Tony McEvoy will give his Australian Guineas winner Hey Doc a Memsie Stakes 2017 tune-up, galloping the four-year-old between races at The Valley on Saturday. The Duporth gelding has amassed over $1.1 million in prize money over his 15 start career to date thanks to seven victories headlined by that in the Group 1 Australian Guineas…

The 2017 Melbourne Autumn Racing Carnival features a host of top level racing in the early months of the year alongside and preceding the classic Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival.

The Melbourne Autumn Festival runs from Australia Day on January 26 and the following day’s Australia Stakes Day meeting at Moonee Valley Racecourse through until the end of March. The headline meetings include Blue Diamond Stakes Day at Caulfield in February and Flemington’s ‘Super Saturday’ in March featuring the Australian Cup and Newmarket Handicap.

All of the autumn race meetings in Victoria are hosted by the Melbourne Racing Club (MRC) and take place at the major metropolitan tracks around the state. The carnival is also host to the first Group 1 race of the new season when the CF Orr Stakes (1400m) lights-up Caulfield Racecourse in mid-February.

CF ORR STAKES DAY

Saturday February 11, 2017 – Caulfield Racecourse

The countdown to the 2017 Blue Diamond Stakes heats up with the two Prelude races held on the year’s opening Group 1 race meeting. CF Orr Stakes Day features a total of eight Group status autumn features:

BLUE DIAMOND STAKES DAY

Saturday February 25, 2017 – Caulfield Racecourse

The autumn Melbourne racing action heats up in late Feburary with 2017 Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes Day headlined by the carnival’s feature race for three-year-olds. There are a total of eight Group races on the card including a trio of Group 1 races:

FLEMINGTON SUPER SATURDAY

Saturday March 11, 2017 – Flemington Racecourse

‘Super Saturday’ at Flemington brings the Victorian autumn racing action to a peak with a double shot of Group 1 racing plus a subsequent three Group events supporting the elite level races on the card:

BLAMEY STAKES DAY

Saturday March 18, 2017 – Flemington Racecourse

One of the final Melbourne Autumn Racing meetings features the one mile Group status race for hopefuls that could be Sydney-bound for a race like the 2017 Doncaster Mile and another Group 3 support act: